To be getting fed up of these type of jumping on the band wagon breastfeeding threads

[sharonthewaspandthewineywall]

here

FTR I'm very pro breastfeeding and think where children are permitted mothers should be able to feed their babies in whichever way they choose. But to me this is a completely different situation and this running to the papers screaming about the inequity of it all is pointless and doesnt actually help in cases where people do breach the equality act.
So AIBU?

I highly doubt that bf is not socially acceptable due to women having their experiences published. Are you trying to silence these women? They can say whatever they like and do whatever they want as long as it is not against the law. There is something called freedom of speech,like it or not.

Social barriers to bf are pretty complex as any research will tell you. Can't be bothered to link to any but it's easy to google.

These types! The ones who go running to the papers! The ones who want the rules changed just for them!

They are the ones who are doing harm to the getting other women to breastfeed.

It's not shit stirring. Sometimes in life you have to accept things won't go your way!

There is something called freedom of speech,like it or not.

And that applies to private venues with their own rules, and the public who are NOT breastfeeding

There might be something called freedom of speech Beatrice but doesn't make what you are saying or the way you are going about saying it right.

Like I said, it is only recently that women have been running to the papers with these stories. It is not doing the vast majority of BF mothers any good.

This is what people are getting fed-up with:

I am pregnant - you MUST make allowances
I have just given birth - you MUST make allowance
I am breastfeeding where I want - and you MUST like it
I have a child in a pushchair on a bus - and you, Mr Wheelchair User, MUST put up with it and wait in the rain
I have a child at this school - I WILL park where I like

To be honest, I think the whole BF issue is kind of a red herring - it's not a "BF mum story", it's a "baby too small to be left for longer than X amount of time, mother who is presumably a freelancer and doesn't get paid maternity leave" story.

Though obviously it suits some people to paint it as a "look at those entitled BF mums demanding to have the rules broken so they can BF everywhere" story.

However I do sympathise with feeling fed up with sensationalist media reports on any subject bf or otherwise. I think some women feel humiliated by how they are treated when bf in public and want to draw attention to it. I some cases it's perhaps misguided but it's still up to that individual to say what they wish to say if any paper wants to publish it, that's their choice, no? As I said its freedom of speech.

I bf for a while and would have never made a complaint if I had been treated in a way that made bf difficult as I was too sleep deprived and too busy to bother. I do accept and respect that some mothers do draw attention to a problem they experience though.

Porto there are self centred people with or without children.
I have never seen anyone say that hers have to like the fact that they are bf. Merely that they let them get on with it without any hassle. Such a emotive subject.....

They are free to get on with it..wherever children are permitted. The law already states that.

They just aren't allowed to bring children onto night clubs or lap dancing venues or a betting shop.

why would you take your baby there anyway let alone go to the papers

I been self employed too - I had to set my rates to allow for when the times that I would be unable to work, to cover the fact that I wouldn't get sick pay or maternity pay or pension contributions. That's kinda how it works.

Such a emotive subject.....

You see, in the past, it WASN'T an emotive subject. I BF my son in public many times 30 years ago and nobody even knew I was doing it. It has only been since women want to draw attention to it that there has been a problem.

The picture of those ridiculous women outside Claridges set BF back years and probably put off many more women than they encouraged. But they will never ever see that........because it was their RIGHT doncha know.

"And that applies to private venues with their own rules, and the public who are NOT breastfeeding."

Not sure how private venues having rules is the same as freedom of speech. But of course anyone who has any opinion on bf has the freedom to articulate these public ally as long as it's not done in a discriminating way.

Well I don't know about the UK but in order to get elected in Ireland as a TD (equivalent of MP) you could not take full maternity leave or your constituents would not vote for you. The problems therefore start right there. If the people setting laws which are supposed to protect working women cannot even protect themselves you soon start to see where the problems are.

Also I'm not entirely sure what's so insanely selfish and entitled about wanting allowances made when you are pregnant or have just given birth? Oh, those awful demanding whining women, wanting seats on the bus when they're 8 months gone and their back is about to give out!

Porto, 30 years ago very few women in the uk bf at all.

Also 30 years ago there was no internet nor social media. It is a reflection of today's culture that any subject bf or not is talked about instantly. I think you are comparing apples and pears.

I find it very odd that you find "women complains about things" so offensive.

Oh, those awful demanding whining women, wanting seats on the bus when they're 8 months gone and their back is about to give out!

That comes under the auspices of 'common courtesy' ........not 'entitlement'.

You, at 8 months pregnant, are no more 'entitled' to a seat than I am with my hidden disability.

It's discriminatory.

Mothers with exclusively breastfed babies are a unit and it's inhumane not to treat them as such. They might as well say, mothers of small babies not allowed.

And for fucks sake - how much trouble can one small baby cause?

Bottlefeeding has made breastfeeding 'optional' and our culture encourages people to see how you feel your baby as nothing other than a consumer lifestyle choice. This results in some people and some businesses feeling entitled to discriminate against new mothers. After all, they don't HAVE to breastfeed do they? If mothers had no choice but to breastfeed, as in the past, we'd be forced to accept that mothers and small babies come together as a unit, and that excluding either means excluding both. Women shouldn't be discriminated against on the basis that they are engaging in a normal female physiological function.

"I been self employed too - I had to set my rates to allow for when the times that I would be unable to work, to cover the fact that I wouldn't get sick pay or maternity pay or pension contributions. That's kinda how it works."

Well yes, I know how it works, my sister is a freelance journalist/novelist and I've spent time contracting myself. Being a musician can be particularly precarious, though (it's not like you're getting three month contracts, you are being paid a gig at a time), and you often can't set a fee too high or you just won't get the gig. This may have been a particularly well paying show as well. Most pro musicians I know, including fairly well known ones, either have other jobs or will literally take anything they can get.

How much trouble?

well they can cost a venue it's license.

Women shouldn't be discriminated against on the basis that they are engaging in a normal female physiological function.

It is quite normal to masturbate.............I just don't do it in full view of everyone in the cafe

"It has only been since women want to draw attention to it that there has been a problem."

Breastfeeding in the UK was largely invisible culturally and in the media until the internet age.

There are lots of people who would like to keep it that way.

I breastfed in public 20 and 18 years ago. No-one knew I was doing it either. I remember being in BHS cafe once feeding DS2 (they had Lego tables so it kept DS1 entertained) and a man was chatting away to me. He commented on the fact that DS2 was "cuddled in to me" and his baby wouldn't do that. He was completely unaware he was being fed.

People, like it or not, are getting fed up with the entitlement that some women are showing. They want the whole world centred around them and their child, and it's not and neither should it be.

Bottlefeeding has made breastfeeding 'optional' and our culture encourages people to see how you feel your baby as nothing other than a consumer lifestyle choice. This results in some people and some businesses feeling entitled to discriminate against new mothers. After all, they don't HAVE to breastfeed do they? If mothers had no choice but to breastfeed, as in the past, we'd be forced to accept that mothers and small babies come together as a unit, and that excluding either means excluding both. Women shouldn't be discriminated against on the basis that they are engaging in a normal female physiological function

^^This and then the really prevailing attitude which is well you made the choice now you have to live with the consequences.

"It is quite normal to masturbate.............I just don't do it in full view of everyone in the cafe"

What - are you suggesting that breastfeeding is like a sexual act that is usually done/should be done in privacy?

But as a self employed person fulfilling a contract it's not very professional to turn up with a baby and babysitter in tow without prior arrangement is it? She knew it was inappropriate to take a 4 year old along to the job (she has been quoted as saying this) but thought it would be OK to take a baby?